


dangling modifiers

by lackadaisical (deadtime)



Category: ENHYPEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Jay Park Third Wheeling, M/M, Other Random '02 K-Pop Idols, Roommates, Sharing a Bed, mentions of drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-20 14:14:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30006135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadtime/pseuds/lackadaisical
Summary: There are two things Sunghoon can't wrap his mind around: words and his inexplicable crush on Jake.
Relationships: Park Sunghoon/Sim Jaeyun | Jake
Comments: 5
Kudos: 69





	dangling modifiers

**Author's Note:**

> dangling modifier (noun): a phrase or clause that is not clearly and logically related to the word or words it modifies

Sunghoon meets Jake in a lucky draw. 

When he and Jongseong — who he vaguely knew from years of sharing classes — were both accepted into the same university, the obvious choice was to room with each other. Never mind that Sunghoon’s never exchanged more than a handful of conversations with Jongseong about group projects and classwork. Any easy choice was a relief after four years of an uphill battle, and so Sunghoon was content to let any further thoughts slip from his mind, graduation at his back and the upcoming summer an endless blue of possibilities. 

On move-in day, Sunghoon rolls his luggage through the door to a screeching halt.

Here’s the thing about choosing to go to a public university: for a smaller fraction of the cost of a private, you also get a fraction of space. Instead of one roommate, Sunghoon gets two.

The boy sitting on the bottom bunk looks up from his phone, runs his hand through his shaggy hair, and breaks into a smile. 

“Hey, I’m Jake.”

#

It’s not that Sunghoon didn’t expect to have a third roommate. He just didn’t expect—

“You free this weekend?”

Sunghoon jolts from his thoughts, blinking at Jake’s expectant face. He should be accustomed to it by now, in the same way he’s grown accustomed to Jongseong’s blank stare from across the table. Still, something about the curve of Jake’s smile stirs Sunghoon’s stomach. The cafeteria pasta he’d been shovelling into his mouth doesn’t go down easy.

He sets down his fork. “Yeah, why?”

Jake holds up his phone, the screen populated by a paused Instagram story. “KASA’s throwing a party and my big said we should come.”

Sunghoon shrugs. “Sure.” 

In typical freshmen manner, the three of them have cycled through a handful of campus organizations, even fraternities just for kicks. Sunghoon had been close to getting a bid for one, but after an afternoon of wall sits in a sweltering garage, a red-faced Jake had mouthed _let’s get out of here_ and well, that was that. 

They decided to stick with KASA, which was thankfully absent of wall sits and instead packed with friendly faces.

“Awesome,” Jake says and happily returns to his own pasta. He’s oblivious to the look Jongseong shoots Sunghoon, sharp eyebrow arched, knowing.

_You good?_

Sunghoon directs his eyes back to his bowl.

#

It’s not that Sunghoon doesn’t like Jake. It’s more that—

“Do you think he likes guys?”

Jongseong’s face, when Sunghoon asked this question a month into their cohabitation, pinched like he’d eaten something sour. 

“How would I know? You’re the one who spends more time with him.”

“Oh.”

Jongseong’s answer, plain and innocuous at the time, dug into Sunghoon’s skin as the days rolled on. The more he thought about it, the more obvious it seemed. Why _did_ he ask Jongseong, when Sunghoon and Jake were practically attached at the hip since the first day they met? He mulled over it as he woke up in the morning to Jake’s snoring, as they met up in the lounge between classes to procrastinate, as Jake’s voice trailed off into the night from his bottom bunk, lulling Sunghoon to a restless sleep.

He thinks about it now, holding an empty cup in his hand as he stares out onto the front yard. Music pulses out from the ajar door. A few paces away, a girl he recognizes from Intro to Sociology is nosing against her girlfriend’s neck. Sunghoon averts his eyes, fumbles with the plastic rim. Tries to ward the inevitable string of thoughts away from his brain.

 _You’re the one who spends more time with him_.

And yet Sunghoon didn’t know. With Jake, he feels like he’s running his hands through water. Raking for any lingering touch, any sign that points to yes. It’s not weird to be attached to your roommate. Isn’t Jake that nice to everyone? Sunghoon’s pretty sure he’s seen him hug Jongseong at some point or another.

He’s so lost in thought he almost doesn’t register the familiar hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Sunghoon jolts, nearly drops the cup in his hand. Jake blinks at him in concern. His hand slips from Sunghoon’s shoulder to his arm. The touch prickles, feels static through Sunghoon’s nylon jacket. 

“I’m fine,” Sunghoon says.

Jake’s creased forehead smoothed. “Oh good, I was scared you were about to throw up or something.”

Sunghoon rolled his eyes. “I’m not the one you need to be worried about. Where’s Jongseong?”

Jake shrugged. “Off with his big, I think.” Sunghoon nodded, knowing just how much Jongseong enjoyed following Heeseung around like a chick following a mother hen. 

“Heeseung will take care of him then.”

“Yeah.” Jake steps closer, props his elbows on the railing. He glances at the couple, who now seem intent on eating each other’s faces, and turns back to Sunghoon. “I think I’m done for tonight. You?”

#

The dorm is quiet when they get back, emptied of overeager freshmen still wandering the streets for parties to crash. Sunghoon hasn’t had enough to drink to be swaying on his feet, but he’s still grateful for Jake’s arm around his shoulder. It’s enough to make him feel giddy, strangely, as they creeped past their RA’s door and down the hall.

When they make it to their room, Sunghoon reaches for the light switch, but Jake’s hand shoots out to stop him. His fingers are cold against Sunghoon’s wrist, a fleeting touch.

“Sorry,” Jake says. Light from the hall spills over his sheepish smile. “Just kinda don’t want to get out of bed again to turn it off.”

“No, that’s a good point,” Sunghoon says. He lets the door click shut behind them.

It’s not complete darkness. They’ve left the windows open, courtesy of Jongseong’s sensitivity to smells and Sunghoon’s daily breakfast of instant ramen at his desk. Wind squeezes through the last of the gaps as Sunghoon slides the pane shut. The curtains he leaves ajar.

Sunghoon’s not sure if he can handle being in complete darkness with Jake.

“Hey.”

Sunghoon shrugs off his jacket and tosses it over his chair, or at least the approximation of it. “Yeah?”

“C’mere.” Moonlight paints Jake in shadows, blue elbows, a flash of teeth. He pats at the empty space next to him, on his bed. It’s all too easy for Sunghoon to follow, sit down inches apart.

“What?” 

“Wanna just sleep in my bed? So you don’t have to climb up to yours?” The way Jake says it, it sounds like he’s asking about the weather. Do you think it’s going to rain today? Do you want to cuddle? Like there’s a no-brainer answer. Like he expects Sunghoon to react casually.

“Okay,” Sunghoon says and lies down. 

In theory, it’s a Tetris game, or maybe a mathematical problem set. How do you fit two sets of boy limbs into the confines of an XL twin bed? Maybe subtraction is involved, a need to cleave out a body to make up for the awkward distance. 

In practice, Jake slots against Sunghoon with no hesitation. His breath ghosts over Sunghoon’s neck as he throws his arm over Sunghoon’s torso and yanks the comforter over them. 

“This is nice,” Jake murmurs and then falls silent, leaving Sunghoon on the shores of consciousness with only the rise and fall of his chest.

At his core, Sunghoon is exhausted. He wants to fall asleep, give away to the leaden feeling in his veins, but his body refuses. Jake is everywhere. His knees graze the back of Sunghoon’s thigh. His arm is a paperweight against Sunghoon’s ribs. This close, Jake’s cologne soaks the air. Sunghoon inhales a noseful of amber and sage — exhales.

Somewhere in the thick of his daze, he registers the door opening, Jongseong’s footsteps padding in. 

Jongseong doesn’t flip on the lights either, just clears his throat and ambles off to sleep. The next morning, when Sunghoon wakes up in his own bed, he feels Jongseong’s eyes on him, the weight of his gaze heavy. Still, Sunghoon is relieved that Jongseong doesn’t ask any questions. He doesn’t think he could come up with an answer.

#

Really, Sunghoon doesn’t mean to start avoiding Jake. It’s more of a snowball effect, courtesy of the 8 a.m. lectures in his roster and the toll of midterm season. On Monday, he’s out of the dorm before Jake wakes up, and spends the rest of his day holed up at the library, crunching problem sets he’s left off to the last minute. Then he spends all of Tuesday night in Taehyun’s room, cashing in on Taehyun’s generosity and unlimited Chegg unlocks until he slinks back to his own dark dorm far past midnight. Then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday — circumstances dragging into routine.

The lack of sleep weighs down on him, tugs at his eyelids, tighten the knots in his back. Still, he soldiers on, sustaining on daily Yerbs and coffee from the dining halls.

It’s two weeks into this tango when Sunghoon stumbles. Taehyun had asked to borrow his calculus textbook, having lost his to an accident involving Jisung from down the hall and swim team hazing. In his haste to make it to class, Sunghoon had forgotten to tuck it into his bag before rushing out the door. He times his return for when Jake is in lecture — but when he opens the door, Jake is sitting on the bottom bunk. Waiting.

“Hey.”

“Hi,” Sunghoon mumbles back, hoping the surprise is not obvious on his face. He can feel Jake’s eyes on him as he hurries over to his desk and grabs the textbook.

“Are you okay lately?”

Sunghoon freezes, clutching the book to his chest. “Uh, what?”

“I…” Jake clears his throat. For the first time in week, Sunghoon sees Jake’s face in daylight. He’s sporting an expression Sunghoon’s never seen on him before: mouth pressed in a thin line, flighty eyes. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Oh,” Sunghoon says. He shifts on his feet. “I’ve been busy.”

“Yeah, ah but…” Jake’s knee is bouncing, like he’s at one of the campus soccer games, anticipating the goal, ready to jump on his feet at any moment. Except there’s no goal in sight here, no ball. Only Sunghoon, two paces from the door.

“But?”

“I feel like you’re avoiding me.”

There it is.

“I’m not,” Sunghoon offers weakly. He forces a laugh, hopes it comes off as casual. “Jake, that’s—”

“So why haven’t I seen you all week despite living together?” Jake stands, stepping forward. “The last time I checked, I have two roommates, but the only one whose face I’ve seen this week is _Jongseong_.”

Sunghoon opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. He feels like a fish, lips circling around syllables, unable to form an answer.

Jake exhales. “Did I do something wrong, Sunghoon? Is that why you’re avoiding me? Are you mad?”

Finally, a breakthrough, the answer rising out of Sunghoon automatically. “No, of course not.”

“Then what is it?”

Sunghoon has never been good at words. He scraped by high school English classes with redlined essays, keeps a thesaurus tab open for lab write-ups. Even then, there are only so many ways to say the same, obvious thing. 

“I like you.”

The moment it leaves his tongue, Sunghoon wants to catch it, stuff it back into his mouth and swallow. He can’t trust himself. He can’t trust the words. He watches as Jake’s expression shift, eyebrows drawing, mouth pursing. He wants to run, but he’s rooted to this spot.

“I like you too.”

Sunghoon can’t help it; he laughs. “As a friend, right?”

“What do you mean?”

Better to rip off the bandaid now than to peel it back bit by bit. Sunghoon soldiers himself — he can take it. “I mean I like you more than as a friend. As in romantically. As in I’d like to take you on date and uh kiss you and all that, but I know you don’t—”

“So why don’t you?”

Sunghoon stops. The words are failing him again. That can’t be right. “What?”

It’s then that he notices how close they are, how Jake’s hands hang in proximity to his own, how he’s leaning forward, edging into Sunghoon’s space. 

“So kiss me,” Jake says. He stares at Sunghoon, tilts his head in a way that’s so distinctly Jake. Earnest, open. Waiting.

Sunghoon has never been good at words. He’s not sure how to shape them, wield them to exact effects in the way that his professors want him to. He’s better at action — at showing, at putting his body in motion.

So he does.

#

(Fifteen seconds after their third kiss and approximately an hour after they both fumble over _what this means_ , Sunghoon’s knee is digging into Jake’s lumpy mattress when the door swings open.

“Oh my god.” It immediately slams shut. “I didn’t see anything!”)

**Author's Note:**

> [breaking] ao3 user lackadaisical returns from hiatus with enha fic?
> 
> not much to say here other than uh sorry jay park < 3
> 
> find me on: [twitter](https://mobile.twitter.com/haetelier) / [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/haetelier) / [dreamwidth](https://lackingdaze.dreamwidth.org/)


End file.
